press of sail

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press of sail

The greatest amount of sail that a ship can carry safely under prevailing conditions. Also called press of canvas.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

press of sail

(Nautical Terms) nautical the most sail a vessel can carry under given conditions. Also called: press of canvas

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

press′ of sail′

the greatest amount of sail that conditions will permit a ship to carry.

[1585–95]

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Noun

press of sail - the greatest amount of sail that a ship can carry safely

press of canvas

sail, canvass, canvas, sheet - a large piece of fabric (usually canvas fabric) by means of which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel

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Johnson seems to spend all his spare time there or aloft at the crosstrees, watching the Ghost cleaving the water under press of sail. There is passion, adoration, in his eyes, and he goes about in a sort of trance, gazing in ecstasy at the swelling sails, the foaming wake, and the heave and the run of her over the liquid mountains that are moving with us in stately procession.

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On the 11th of January, 1833, by carrying a press of sail, we fetched within a few miles of the great rugged mountain of York Minster (so called by Captain Cook, and the origin of the name of the elder Fuegian), when a violent squall compelled us to shorten sail and stand out to sea.